12 Mar 2015|Noida | Amity Campus
Eminent Environmental Advocates lay stress on the importance of enforcement of International Environmental Law during the Inaugural Ceremony of 3rd International Moot Court Competition at Amity University
To hone the skills of clinical legal education in law students by familiarizing them with court proceedings, Amity law School Centre – II inaugurated its 3rd International Moot Court Competition on Environment Law at Amity campus, Sector 125, Noida, today.
The aim of Moot Court Competition is to provide practical experience in environment litigation to the participants by testing their academic and legal skills in appellate brief writing and oral advocacy based on the environment legal problem. During the competition, the participants write persuasive arguments advocating how the given fictitious problem should be resolved, argue the case orally and have their performances evaluated and critiqued by practicing attorneys of High Court and Supreme Court.
The inauguration marked the presence of Adv. D.K. Singh, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Prof. (Dr.) Manoj Kumar Sinha,Director, Indian Law Institute, New Delhi as Guest Of Honor, Major Gen K Jai Singh– Group Vice Chancellor, Amity Group; Dr. (Prof.) Balvinder Shukla, Vice Chancellor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, who were seen encouraging the budding lawyers.
Underlying the importance of Moot Court Competitions, Dr. (Prof.) Balvinder Shukla said that Moot court competition is the best way to learn and practice the written and oral skills which will help the budding lawyers in their profession. She further added that it is important for students to learn the practical difficulties in the advocacy which they mightf ace in future. She outlined that in earlier years, law was isolated by being limited to state or country but at present, globalization has led to growing concern of International Law and its aspects.
Sharing his views on International Environment Law, Advocate D K Singh said that Environmental laws are the standards that governments establish to manage natural resources and environmental quality. He further added that the Environmental Law has 1700 conventions divided under three dimensions including National Law with transboundary conventions, Private International Law and Public International Law. Advocate Singh outlined that disturbance in environment is affecting the existence of earth and the universe at large and despite having environmental law in existence; there is no mean to enforce the conventions in many countries. He commended Amity for taking up such a different issue for the moot court competition which will provide a unique experience to budding lawyers in the area of environment law proceedings.
Dr. Manoj Kumar Sinha emphasized on the development of Environment Law, he said “Growth of International Environmental Law as a separate area of Public International Law began in the 1970s with the Stockholm Conference on the Environment in 1972. Since then interest has steadily increased and it is one of the fastest growing areas of International law.” He mentioned that the development of the law has taken place in the gap of every 20 years. He apprised that over a period of time,there has been a lot of International cooperation in the form of treaties,agreements and resolutions created by intergovernmental organizations as well as national laws and regulations who are actively working to protect the environment. Dr. Kumar enlightened the participants on the emerging phenomena of “Environmental Refugee”, which has gained new importance, as global climate change and desertification have threatened the livelihoods of people across the globe. He further added that climate change has resulted in displacement of growing number of people due to environmental problems such as drought, soil erosion, desertification and deforestation. He outlined that a strong environmental law is present for the protection of law but effective enforcement of the same is yet to be done. “International Environment Law needs to be implemented in good faith for the protection of environment and human beings from natural disasters.” opines Dr. Kumar.
Over 32 Law Colleges and Institutes across India are participating in the competition including teams from Manglaytan University; Gujrat National Law University;Symbiosis Law School, Pune; NMIMS School of Law; Amity University Lucknow;Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Law; Rajiv Gandhi School of IPL, IIT Kharagpur amongst others.
Mr.Collin Gonsalvis, Director, Human Rights and Law Network (HRLN), Senior Advocate, Supreme Court; Prof. (Dr). S. Shiv Kumar, Senior Research Professor and Former Director of Indian Law Institute (ILI); Prof. (Dr). U.P. Sinha, Vice- Chancellor, Central University, Haryana and Prof. (Dr.) R. Venkata Rao,Vice Chancellor, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore will grace the Valedictory Ceremony of Moot Court Competition on March 14, 2015 at 4 pm.